Dream Resistance Artists, Meet the UK Anti-Trump Coalition | American News

Less than a week from the arrival of Donald Trump in the UK, preparations are underway to protest across the country. More than 50,000 people are expected to parade Friday in London in what has been described as a resistance carnival with dozens of organizing blocs – including Vegans Against Trump, Muslims vs. Trump, Trumpeters Against Trump – who gathered in the capital

. 1.8 million people signed a petition last May to protest against Trump's invitation to a state visit. Even though it has been reduced to a less formal work visit, anger has spread beyond experienced protesters.

The Stop Trump Coalition helped organize dozens of coaches in London and many people would have to protest for the first time. time. "I've thought about it since he came in – that guy is so dangerous and I'm going to London to protest, even though I've never done it before," says Robin Hodgson, 76 years old. I said it for months and months and nobody really took me seriously. Hodgson, of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, will travel 17 miles to Swindon, then take the bus to London. "There must be many people like me," he says, "and we have to get up and take the train and the bus just to show it and teach it."

Hodgson says his determination stems from his anger at xenophobia rising through the country. "You saw it after the referendum here, people thinking that you might have the old days when" we ruled the world "and" things were done in Britain. "You can not not to go back. "

As to why he was compelled by this march, rather than the anti-Brexit, Hodgson is clear. "Trump preaches hatred and greed, and he makes people grow in a rage, like the Nazi rallies, it's serious." Will he carry a sign? "I do not know if I'm going to do anything. I will be there to be heard. "

Woody Johnson, the US ambbadador to Britain, denied that the route was organized to avoid protests – which include a giant balloon "Baby Trump Anger" flying over Westminster courtesy of Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London.The President's agenda includes a dinner-tie at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and a meeting with Premier Minister at Checkers in Buckinghamshire, instead of Downing Street. "President avoids anything," said Johnson, before confirming that Donald and Melania Trump would not be traveling by motorcade in the UK, but by helicopter "The president is just trying to get a trip as hard as it gets. he can do it in a 24-hour period. "

For Michelle Garcia, a 26-year-old US office badistant, Trump's visit is extremely personal. "It weighs heavily on me," she says. "I do not want to be terrorized in my new home like the United States."

Garcia was born in Mexico and moved to the United States with her parents when she was a baby, where the family was born. is based in Sacramento, California. As undocumented migrants, they have a precarious Daca status. Deferred action for child arrivals allows them to stay in the United States but must be renewed every two years. Under Trump's presidency, they could be sent back to Mexico at any time. "All of these threats took us to the eve of the election and things changed so quickly." She describes the panicked panic of her family and a fear that erupted after the election. "It affected us emotionally and physically."

Garcia left the United States a month after the president's inauguration, after obtaining a spousal visa in the United Kingdom with her US-British husband. She left knowing that for a few years at least she could not go back. "And now we have found out that my mom has stage three cancer, I can not go back, they will not let me in and I will not see her again, it's something, you know." His voice breaks. "I am very sorry, yes I ran away but many people do not have it and it is horrible, I will be there [at the demonstration on Friday] in solidarity for all these people."

These are stories like these that have driven Tarryn Sessions, 30, a recent arrival of South African expatriates, to walk. "It's my first protest," she says. "I followed American politics with a growing sense of alarm.I am just very angry and very scared by the future not only of America, but of the world – and the situation in America affects that. "

Sessions is clear that visibility is important. "Many people said we should not show up because Trump likes attention," she says. "But it's not someone who eats a negative attention, it actually annoys him.I do not think it's something he'll want and I think that's something that's going on. it is important to say "yes, we are not Americans ourselves, but we care about it and it has an impact on the world." She says she feels a sense of urgency. making our voices heard is more productive than chatting on Twitter. "

Gorgeous cheddar, a 34-year-old dragoon artist and anthropologist from Manchester, brings a group of protesters to London for the first time, all in extravagant folly. "Pride markets have become very different in the UK, it's less of a political message and a more commercial celebration of LGBTQ people," he says. "These marches did not have the same political resonance."

He sees the anti-Trump march as his first manifestation as a "grown-up now, more and more aware that there are things in the world that I'm not happy about, movements in the world of which I am not pleased that are destructive to people and the planet. "

Like many, Gorgeous considers that the US presidency affects more than America itself. "Trump is a byproduct of a much more sinister energy in the world and I think we can point out things like racism and badism and homophobia [on this march] but ultimately they are all related to the free economy of the free market.When the economic system slows down and becomes awkward, and that wealth is extracted from the top, people turn to fascism.Trump suggests: "It's not your fault it's the fault of someone else. "And the easiest targets will always be the marginalized people who are different from you: women, LGBTQ people, migrants." [19659002] How will he make his message heard? He's laughing. "One thing that a drag queen does very well is to get people to watch them and we can, as a group, draw attention to all these issues."